Windsor's Strong-Howard House Expands Tour As Restoration Continues

Strong-Howard House restoration

The Windsor Historical Society is in the midst of a three-year, $775,000 project to refurbish rooms in the Strong-Howard House. Sitting in the interactive dining room, from left, is curator Christina Vida, John Berky, president of the board of directors, and director Christine Ermenc. The Strong-Howard House is hosting an open house Oct. 5 from 1 p..m to 4 p.m.

The Windsor Historical Society is in the midst of a three-year, $775,000 project to refurbish rooms in the Strong-Howard House. Sitting in the interactive dining room, from left, is curator Christina Vida, John Berky, president of the board of directors, and director Christine Ermenc. The Strong-Howard House is hosting an open house Oct. 5 from 1 p..m to 4 p.m.

WINDSOR — About a year ago the Windsor Historical Society unveiled phase one of its restoration and reinterpretation of the Strong-Howard House to reflect the way the Howard family home would have looked in 1810.

That phase focused on the family's drawing room and fabric store.

Now work has been completed on phase two, the dining room and the bedroom, and the historical society is inviting visitors for a free tour of the home from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 5.

Visitors can sit at the dining room table set for a typical late afternoon meal of the time and learn about the kinds of food that the family would likely have eaten, the types of cutlery and glasses they would have used and even learn something about the members of the Howard family by reading "discovery cards that accompany items.

And in the first floor bedroom, which would have been a status symbol of the time, visitors can pull back the covers and get in bed, try on clothes from the chest of drawers or even have a seat on the cleverly disguised chamber pot that Mr. and Mrs. Howard would have used.

"We want them to touch things and put themselves in the Howard's shoes," said Christina Vida, the historical society's curator.

Vida and a team of researchers sifted through old newspaper ads, probate inventories, account books, court records, tax lists and other written documents to determine what the Howards would own and how they would furnish their home.

"This gives people a truer sense of what it was like to live here at that time," said Christine Ermenc, who added that the meal in the dining room and the bedding on the bed will be changed in the spring to reflect food available at that time of year and the warmer temperature.

The project was made possible by a capital campaign the historical society undertook. The campaign has raised about $750,000, which they believe will help them tackle the third and final phase of the project.

In January they expect work to begin on reinterpreting the keeping room, including a new fire place and hearth and a working stove. The mail room will also be converted into a creamery and storage area. They hope to have the work completed by the end of 2015.

"This is going to be our biggest most challenging part of the project," said Ermenc, who envisions having groups of visitors actually cooking and eating an 1810 meal in the room.

"There will be the odors of cooking, the crackle of burning wood," she said. "It will be a sensory experience."

Ermenc and Vida estimated that they have had about 2,300 visitors to the house since the first phase opened and they hope the new exhibit and phase three continues to grow the audience.

"We want to be seen as an attraction state-wide," said Ermenc. "We think it could be a major attraction not just for Windsor.